Mice prevention...

[webworks]

Ok so I searched the forum for mice prevention but found nothing useful

I have had my Coleman Cheyenne for many years and it is in GREAT shape!

I opened it to find a few things chewed.  I live on the Oregon coast in a rural area and everyone battles mice and rats.  I am a fanatic about placing mouse bait to get rid of the little suckers... until now I figured I was doing enough to protect my stuff... apparently not

Soooo what advice do you all have for me to keep the mice out of the popup and keep my canvas safe?

[mike4947]

First of all remember baits and poison work by ATTRACTING insects/rodents to where the bait is. That's the last thing you want to do.
The "secret" is to keep them out of the RV.
How you ask? One of my top 5 rants: SEAL UP THE CAMPER!
All it takes is a caulking gun, a strong light, two people, and about a 1/2 hour.
One person goes in the camper with the light and shines it EVERYWHERE. Including under the dinette seats and in any cabinets. The other person goes under the camper with the caulking gun and caulks until no more light shows. We've been using this method for 15 years on all the RV's (100+) in our extended camping family and haven't had an insect or rodent problem in any since we started using this method.
 
Also check the vents for the fridge , water heater, and furnace. The fridge vents can use screen glued on with caulk, and the water heater and furnace vents have commercial caps available if you have a problem with them.

[webworks]

OK good idea on the caulking gun and flashlight idea... however they chewed their way in and it was not near a seam or gap.

Also I do not have any mouse bait inside the popup.  I place the bait in the corners of the building that the popup is stored in.  Every time the weather changes we get a stampede of mice looking for a place to live and using the mouse poison and glue traps are the only way we seem to be able to shorten their stay in our out buildings.

I have even tried the "electronic rodent repellers" in the shop and they don't work.  In fact I found mouse droppings on the electronic unit! LOL

I might try placing glue traps around the wheels and tongue jack to catch the critters before they can get to the popup

[harleywolf]

We have the same problem with rodents where we live (bi-coastal far north California) and so I applied the same principle that I use to protect our home. As Mike said trap placement is critical since they do attract the pests.

Sealing up is the best prevention and we do that with caulk, wire mesh and primarily steel wool. You HAVE to locate entry as well as possible entry points. Use a high powered flash light as suggested. Larger places use a fine steel mesh; staple it over the entry point. Caulk where you see appropriate and stuff steel wool in everything else, which you

[A2SuperCrew]

I had read that stuffing Bounce fabric softener sheets everywhere helped repel rodents.  I don't know if it's urban legend or not, but it has worked for us so far.  As a bonus, the camper smells really nice when it comes out of storage in the spring!

I also seal every opening with brass wool.  It won't rust if it gets wet.  I stretch it out onto packing tape, and cover all the vents and other openings for the hot water tank, fridge, etc.  Also stuff it in around the door.

Lastly, since our PUP is stored in a pole barn with electricity, I plug in one of those ultrasonic rodent repellers, and leave it hanging under the PUP.

There has been a problem with Mice and Red Squirrels in the barn, but in the last two winters they have not bothered our PUP.  This stuff seems to be working!  Or maybe it's just the prayers...........  

[rccs]

Good idea to start by sealing up any opening coming into the camper from the bottom like suggested. Also you could use a product called Fresh Cab  scent pouches. You can check them out at //www.greenfeet.com and search for Fresh Cab scent pouches. I am not sure the dryer sheet thing works or not but I have read replies either way. Some think it works and others have said that they found the mice had made nests out of them over winter.  From the feedback on the Fresh Cab most have said it does work and it is an evergreen scent that makes the camper smell fresh also.

[A2SuperCrew]

Fresh Cab looks very interesting.  Thanks for the link!  Unfortunately for us, the web site says they last three months.  Up here in Michigan, our PUP is in storage for at least six months of the year.  Sad, I know...........  

[PM3579]

There is a letter from a reader in the Aug 2007 issue of PUT on using pepermint oil might be worth a try.

[Shredder]

There is a letter from a reader in the Aug 2007 issue of PUT on using pepermint oil might be worth a try.

I tried this last winter and it seems to have worked. My PU is parked outside next to my boat, every year the boat engine has a mouse nest in it. Mothballs and  drier sheets did not work, but cotton balls soaked in peppermint and spearmint oil looks like it does work. This was the first winter in forever we had no mouse nests in the boat, boat engine, and none in the pu's first year with us. I also sealed up everything I could find. The biggest holes were around the inner fender wells, they are plastic and stapled to the floor. There was plenty of space for a mouse to squeeze in between staples. Also around the hoses coming in for water had a little room around them, not much ,but it does not take much...........shredder

[MJohn]

Well I have never had a mice problem in any rv and never did anything to prhibit it either. Guess I've been lucky so far but I think the steel wool/brass wool is worth a try especially sense we got a new one. Everyone I talked to said right off the bat to seal stuff up using the wool. Tried to find it a marine supply store as suggested and Home depot with no luck-for finding brass wool that is.
Def. want to try spearmint oil. Hope that helps us out and you too.

[mike4947]

Look under bronze wool, not brass wool.

[PDNAH5]

I've been putting in moth balls in a little cup (6 to 8 balls) and no problems with the little critters yet.  My trailer is parked in a field  and there are a lot of field mice around.  :yikes:  My trailer is 12ft long so I put 2 cups, 1 on each end of the trailer just to be on the safe side.  I also heard that the little guys dont like the smell of peppermint oil havent tried this yet though.  Supposedly you can get this at health food stores.  You put 3 or 4 drops on a cotton ball and that does the trick.

Paul

[BirdMan]

We have been using bounce sheets in our trailers for years and they work great.  We put them under every drawer and at the bottom's of every cabinet just before we put the trailer away for the winter.  Come spring we replace them with new sheets as mice and pack rats have been known to get in during camping.  Each time out camping we place new ones in the drawers.

You could spend your life trying to seal up every crack and crevice in your trailer.  A mouse can get in a space the diameter of a pencil.  Steel wool will work great to fill larger cracks & holes.  The only possible challenge you might not like about the steel wool is that it rusts, but this does not stop it's effectiveness.

We also set a couple mouse traps under the trailer when camping to assist in keeping them out.  This helps a lot!  There are many kinds of mouse traps you can buy, but the best trap on the market is called "The Better Mouse Trap" made by Intruder Inc. out of Rice Lake, WI.  This trap will catch ten times more mice on the same amount of food as any other mouse trap because it is so sensitive.  Believe me I know, I have sold over 500 hundred of these traps in my business in the past couple years.

Last fall we went camping and when we left for back home I turned on the air conditioning of the truck and head the "thump" noise.  Turned out a mouse got in the air vent and when I turned on the fan the mouse got ground through the squirrel cage.  $1000 to take the HVAC unit apart and thoroughly clean.  Now I set two mouse traps in the cab of the truck when camping.